This is part three of a three-part collection of photos taken during the final week of April when my friend Pyper came to visit. These photos cover Thursday, April 27 and Friday, April 28, 2012. Included are photos from a delightful trip to Xela (and its huge market), hiking around San Marcos, Keith’s porch, a chicken bus breakdown on the highway, and a few photos from Antigua.
As usual, the photos in this post are thumbnail images. Please click on any photo to enlarge it. The thumbnails leave much to be desired as far as colors and resolution — plus the thumbnails clip all of the edges. I use thumbnails for the post itself, because it gives people the opportunity to get a summary glimpse without downloading huge amounts of data for the high-res photos.
CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.
Xela Or Bust
Early Thursday morning, Keith picks Pyper and I up at around 6:00 a.m. near the basketball court at the center of town. Soon we zoom away in his little Toyota pickup truck, first going to San Pablo, and then turning to zig-zag up the mountain side on our way to the Inter-America highway.
Views From The Top
This first photo is taken at a small view area at the top of our first climb. Behind Pyper, and to the left, is San Pablo. If you look just above San Pablo, beyond the small inlet above it, you can see portions of San Marcos. (In fact, San Marcos sits in between those two little inlets.)
Pyper and I, giggling in the clouds.
And now Keith joins us. (Pyper is really good at reaching her arm out and taking self-portraits.)
Pyper and I. If you expand the photo, San Pablo is visible on the left, and San Pedro on the right.
A pensive Keith, with beautiful Lake Atitlan views below.
And another fun photo of Keith.
Keith’s little truck parked by the winding two-lane highway. A large truck is carrying supplies down into the lake.
A view of the mountains. San Pablo is visible in the bottom right.
A view of the San Pedro volcano. The town of San Juan is on the right, and San Pedro is on the left.
Another mountain view. Note … for perspective, “The Nose” mountain is somewhere just behind me. Lots of people actually hike to the top of it from somewhere in this vicinity. I have never done the hike.
After another drive up even more mountains, we stop at another view area.
A really cute photo of Keith and Pyper.
This very interesting church is near Xela (pronounced Shay-luh). I love the “fallen angel” on the left.
People coming and going through the entrance, carrying things on their heads, as all the local women do.
A close up of that fascinating fallen angel.
A closer view of the top of the church.
Time for a snack … we’re hungry after a long drive (about two and a half hours so far).
More women carrying bundles of flowers on their heads.
I just don’t know how they balance this stuff so easily … but they start doing it as young girls.
Xela Market
The huge market at Xela is among the largest in Guatemala. We stop here for various reasons. Keith and I both need to buy fruits, nuts, veggies, etc…
And then Pyper has never seen such a huge authentic market.
And finally, we need to fill up our large two-liter bottles with fresh coconut milk to provide us with electrolytes for our long swim in the hot springs after we finish our time in the market. I do not have any photos of the hot springs, but we go there for a private chocolate ceremony — an amazing mix, hot water, chocolate, and inner work.
This first photo is the coconut vendor where Keith buys our coconut milk. Each large bottle costs us only 10 Quetzales (about $1.30 US) … a wonderful deal.
Pyper wanted to see how cacao is sold in bulk, so we stopped at this one small vendor. Keith is sticking his hand in a large bag of cacao beans.
And now it is Pyper’s turn. “Cacao” is the name of the plant before it is processed into chocolate.
A closer view of the cacao beans (with the skins still on them). These are the beans that are lightly roasted and peeled before being ground.
Because Keith serves so much chocolate on his porch, he goes through a lot of “panela” … aka “raw cane sugar”.
This is how Keith buys it — in bulk. It comes in blocks, about six inches square and three inches thick. In this photo, you can only see how bundles of those panela blocks are tied together.
In this photo, you can see the panela blocks wrapped up in the closest bundle.
Would you like some lemons? Yes, they call these lemons here. To me, they are limes, but the people here insist they are lemons.
Me, reaching in my purse to get money for a papaya.
You have to pay attention when walking around. Large carts like this often squeeze between the shops, barreling through while people almost have to jump out of the way. I got banged in the head once on a previous trip when I was not paying attention.
This guy has huge bags of oranges on his cart.
And I cannot quite tell what he is carrying.
One young girl selling her fruits.
This market is huge, having acres of both indoor and outdoor vendors. This is an outdoor street where lots of fruits and vegetables are being sold.
A very colorful assortment of yummy fruits and vegetables being sold by these beautiful Mayan women in their traditional clothing.
Keith browsing in one of the small booths.
I wish I remembered what these are called. They are little fruits, actually quite sweet on the inside. I have photos later of Pyper eating one … showing the insides. Keith bought a bag for us to share.
This is a closer view of these cute little fruits. They look like they are out of a Dr. Seuss book.
Does anyone know what they are called?
More of the outdoor market … getting into an area where clothing and craft items are sold.
More of the outdoor market.
Keith, walking around looking for edible treasures.
Another unique view of colorful fruits and vegetables.
These interesting goodies are homemade chocolate, Guatemalan style. This is chocolate that has been heavily roasted, peeled, and then mixed with three parts of sugar to one part chocolate. I have never tried one.
After finishing our ceremony at the hot springs in nearby Almolonga, we had to stop for one more errand … buying items in a hardware store at the center of Xela.
I love these machetes.
Exploring San Marcos
After returning from Xela, it was late and dark … but Pyper wanted to get more photos of those trumpet flowers.
This is the best photo we could get that night.
And another gate … at nighttime.
A Final Stroll
Early Friday morning, before taking a chicken bus to Antigua, Pyper and I took a hike to a nearby hill where the views are gorgeous. I mentioned this hill in a previous photo post.
On the way, we bumped into yet another sign forest. This one is on the second main north-south “road” that runs through the lower part of San Marcos. Along this path are several hotels, homes, and a couple of restaurants.
This is part of that same “road/path” as we walk down toward the lake.
And another section of this busy thoroughfare.
These trumpet flowers were much more photogenic during the day (and it was much easier to find them than it was last night).
A closer view from below. Again, I am calling them trumpet flowers, but I have no idea what their real name is.
More of the beautiful flowers, accented by purple ones.
This is more scenery that we pass as we turn back to the west and walk parallel to the lake.
Soon, we are climbing a steep trail on our way to the of the hill. This is looking back down at the lake just a short distance below.
I absolutely love this photo of the trees with the glimmering lake down below.
This is part of the trail leading up to the top.
Pyper, up on top of the hill.
Me, on top of the hill. That is San Pablo visible beyond the trees. These nice benches did not used to be here. Two years ago, during my Sun Course, I came to this very spot several times … but then it was overgrown with tall shrubs and weeds. It was a very private and isolated space to meditate.
Me, standing by a small firepit, with the lake and the San Pedro volcano in the distance.
Pyper, standing in the same spot.
A view of San Pedro (left) and San Juan (right). The San Pedro volcano is rising to the left.
Pyper standing by a large cactus that looks something like a Yucca. San Pablo is in the background.
I LOVE that tree behind Pyper. The dark-brown, peeling, bark looks magical.
A closer view of that same beautiful tree.
A large prickly-pear cactus on top of the hill.
It even has a little flower bud.
As time grew short, we started walking down the other side of the hill, planning to return on a trail that follows the lakeshore below.
This is the backside of some structures that belong to the Sun Course at The Pyramids.
A magical view of a beautiful tree, looking steeply down to the lake, with a Mayan man in a small canoe right in the center.
Another view of one of Pyper’s favorite mountains.
Walking down the trail.
The same man in his canoe, as seen from below.
Looking toward San Pedro (left) and San Juan, doing so from lake level.
Another similar view, but with the canoe and without the trees.
Final Visit With Keith
After leaving the trail, we hurry over to Keith’s so Pyper can say goodbye. He has a private session scheduled at 9:00 a.m., and we have to get there before he starts that session.
When we get there, Keith gives us a few more of those “Dr. Seuss” fruits. (I like that name).
Here, Pyper has removed half of the skin. The inside is a moist, slimy, sweet, white fruit.
“I like it … I lilke it,” Pyper giggles.
Then she sticks out her white tongue at me. Actually this is really the fruit before she bites into it.
And inside of that white fruit is this large seed … which is not very fun to eat.
Pyper and Keith exchanging a goodbye hug.
Me, Pyper, Keith, one of Keith’s workers, and Isaias (Keith’s worker for more than 8 years now).
After quickly returning to my apartment to grab our things, this friendly black dog stopped by to wish Pyper a “bon voyage.”
To Antigua And Beyond
First we catch a tuk-tuk to San Pablo. Then we catch a chicken bus (which we almost miss because the tuk-tuk driver left us at a stop that I did not recognize). The chicken bus is supposed to take us to Chimaltenango (it goes to Guatemala City, but we were going to get off in Chamaltenango).
After a couple of hours, there is a LOUD bang directly beneath Pyper’s seat. It soon becomes obvious that one of the tires blew out. The driver stops to check, all seems OK (There are double tires on the axel) and we keep driving for 15 minutes until we get to a tire repair place.
This is me sticking my head out of the bus window, supervising the workers below as they hurriedly change the tire on the bus. The old tire was totally destroyed.
Soon, we are back on the road. Suddenly, I notice a lot of smoke drifting down the left side of the bus. Soon the driver pulls over to check it out. Ten minutes later we drive again, and then the smoke starts again. An hour later, after receiving help from many people, we are told that the bus will go no further.
Soon, Pyper and I squeeeeeeeze (and I do mean squeeze) onto another already crowded chicken bus that stops to pick up extra passengers. As we pull into Chimaltenango an hour later, we cannot even see through the people to find our stop. We manage to get off the bus, but we do so one stop too soon.
Finally, we get an Antigua bus and make the final hour of our journey together.
After dinner, Pyper just has to stop to visit with Ronald.
First, we found a hotel. We got a room here, with two twin beds, for a total of 100 Quetzales (about $13.00 US).
This is the dead-end alley/street where our hotel resides. Our hotel is at the very end.
After getting our room, we go out and purchase a 5:00 a.m. airport shuttle ticket — for a small minibus that will pick Pyper up at 5:00 a.m., right in front of our hotel, and then whisk her away to the airport in Guatemala City. Once she is on that shuttle, I will not need to worry about her getting lost.
This is an old church that we pass as we stroll around Antigua (the old capitol city of Guatemala).
Motorcycles are a popular form of transportation here.
Pyper doing some final souvenir shopping in a local artesan market.
Buying a beautiful Mayan belt (for her traditional woman’s clothing). I love this beautiful Mayan woman. Oh … and I love the shorter one dressed in traditional clothing too.
For our final tourist stop, we head down to the central town square (zocalo) and visit in the dark while watching the fountains and the beautiful people. Several young school girls (who are studying English) stop by to have a chat. We laugh and giggle with them until we are so tired that we have to go back to our Hotel.
At 4:45 on Saturday morning, Pyper’s shuttle shows up early. I only get a few seconds to give her a quick goodbye hug before her van zooms away out of sight.
It has been an amazing giggle-filled week, but I am exhausted. First I try to go back to bed. When sleeping attempts fail, I pack up my bags and walk over to the market where I catch a 6:00 a.m. chicken bus headed back toward the lake. With a bus change in Chimaltenango, another at Los Encuentros, and another change at Solola, I finally arrive in Panajachel where I run to the bank for cash, purchase a few groceries at nearby stores, and catch a boat back to San Marcos.
As I sleep most of the day, a profound giggle lights up my heart.
I sooo needed to laugh again, and Pyper gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that. Come back soon, Pyper.
Copyright © 2012 by Brenda Larsen, All Rights Reserved
I still can’t believe we ate at McDonald’s!! :)